What winch are you using on your car trailer?

[Kern Dog]

I got a car trailer last year. So far, I've dragged 4 dead vehicles up on it using a hand ratcheting "come-along" and a chain.

The heaviest was a 5000 lb Saturn SUV. That sucked!

I want to look into a medium duty winch to make this easier. I want something reasonably light that I can mount as needed, then stow out of sight after it has done the job. I plan to fab up some sort of square plug like a towing receiver hitch to attach the winch. I'd do some sort of reinforcement to the framework of the plug...

I'm guessing these are simple 12V operated so I'd have a charged battery and short cables to attach to power it up.
The trailer is rated to 5500 lbs so I don't think I'd need some super huge winch to do the job. I've towed home some lighter cars...

Jigsaw runs and drives but had to be brought to DMV for a VIN verification.
What winch model did you go with or would you recommend ?

 

[Kern Dog]

Tractor Supply has this:

It seems that if the dead vehicle still rolls, the rating of the winch might not matter as much? I wonder what they mean? Would 4500 lb mean it could lift 4500 lbs if it were dangling in the air? Pulling a car that rolls isn't nearly the same.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

If you have a gooseneck ball in your truck I have found that is the most convenient place to put one. I made an adapter that slips over the ball, and power it up with 2-0 welding cable and Anderson connectors. Store the winch in the tool box when not using it. Mine is a 9000 pound Warn.

 

[Sahara]

We use winches a lot. The rule of thumb is one rated for twice your vehicles weight.
But you’re not pulling a five thousand pound jeep out of axel deep mud, so…
We used to burn out the cheap Chinese Harbour Freight type ones constantly. The wiring is junk, connections junk, switches junk. We’ve had good luck with Warn, but that is probably overkill and expensive for what you need. I’d recommend one of the ones that they sell for side by side atv’s. We personally have good luck with Warn or the Polaris house brand. Four or five thousand pounds should easily pull any car onto a trailer.

 

[Bighouse]

Hand crank boat winch. The rolling load isn’t much.

 

[Jesse6869]

 

[YY1]

For over a decade, I had the harbor freight "marine" winch.

It was almost perfect. It stayed outside and held up well. Biggest issue was contacts on remote switch cable connection, which I ended up replacing.

When that finally died, I replaced to with the smallest "2500 pound" hf which was 50 bucks at the time.

Two issues with that-
1- it's too fast!
2- the wireless remote failed after a year, and I had to hard wire it and still haven't fabricated a reversing switch network.

But it effortlessly pulls any car I've tried up onto my car dolly, or across the yard and up into a shop bay.

I did fabricate heavy "C" clips and shackle type attachment points so it can be removable.

 

[j-c-c-62]

Is that a synthetic rope winch?
For light duty that would be my preference, instead of having to wear gloves to handle steel cable.
Be curious of any views from those that have used both.

 

[Jesse6869]

Mine is synthetic no issues so far able to use my hands verse gloves. But obviously it’s a preference. I made the bracket and reinforced the bottom of the tilt trailer so it wouldn’t ripe out over time.

 

[91r/t]

Just remember too you are gonna want some sort of roller or slippery/non friction plate on the tail for then the cable goes over the back and then pulls down towards the vehicle until its up the ramps half way or so. I used a piece of nylon sheeting the couple times I had to winch my Runner up onto the trailer before it was done. It'll be worse on your trailer with no dove tail, so you might need a roller on the tail for the cable to not bind and dig in.

 

[dadsbee]

 

[bandit67]

Just remember KD, unless you are of age to be done with draggin barn finds to the house, eventually you will find one ,with one or more, brake drums frozen/locked up. I had rather drag them up on the trailer and fix them at home rather than the muck I usually find them in. I went with a more expensive Warn with a synthetic cable and wireless remote and I can load a 4k car with locked wheels by myself . I welded a towing tube to a plate and bolted that to the trailer, and is easily removable. Keep the winch inside my shop when not needed. Ive got a thread on here where lots of folks chimed in, if I can figure out how to post a link.
Any winch recommendations...yeah or neagh......

 

[DGE330/NC]

Harbour Freight 9,000 # winch . It's worked fine so far

 

[4mulas]

Just a cheapo 2 or 3,000 lb winch will work just fine. If you’re ever trying to load one going ‘up hill’ or an ‘extra heavy’ vehicle you can always snatch the winch cable to double up the pull, it just becomes a lot slower that way.

 

[Under Pressure]

No help for ya Kern, but this all I got

 

[hdwrench]

For over a decade, I had the harbor freight "marine" winch.

It was almost perfect. It stayed outside and held up well. Biggest issue was contacts on remote switch cable connection, which I ended up replacing.

When that finally died, I replaced to with the smallest "2500 pound" hf which was 50 bucks at the time.

Two issues with that-
1- it's too fast!
2- the wireless remote failed after a year, and I had to hard wire it and still haven't fabricated a reversing switch network.

But it effortlessly pulls any car I've tried up onto my car dolly, or across the yard and up into a shop bay.

I did fabricate heavy "C" clips and shackle type attachment points so it can be removabl

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09743XH55?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title i bought this switch for my atv winch , it’s a momentary polarity reversing switch works great and priced fair .

 

[YY1]

@hdwrench

THANKS.

 

[12icer]

The tractor supply one in post 2 with a double line pulled a 1985 Buick Lesabre with a locked rear brake and four flats on my trailer I just pulled for a minute and let off for a minute just to be sure it wouldn't get too hot it was 10 years ago and it is still going after a lot of the same treatment and on the second cable.

It will pull a rolling 4500 pound car on in about two minutes of starting with no release of the button.

 

[12icer]

You can get overkill on a winch for light duty work, I had an 8000 pound gear reduction warn on my boom truck till the bearings wore out on it it had a four line dual pulley system on it.

I picked up a 6" thick steel reinforced concrete 42" culvert 5 feet long with my boom truck and loaded it on a wagon.

The truck weighed 9000 and the front was countered with a 6' 12"x1/2 steel channel bumper and it barely stayed down with the boom almost straight up.

 

[gtxdana]

I've had a cheap HF 3500 pound ATV winch in my enclosed trailer for several years and it seems to pull anything into the trailer without any problems. It's setup for the wired remote but I pretty much always use the wireless remote.